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「謎の転校生…!!」 (Nazo no Tenkousei…!!)
“The Mysterious Transfer Student!”
Shino’s Struggles
Inojin actually echoed a sentiment I had from last week: Shino puts in so much effort but is possibly misguided.
Say what you want about Shino’s capabilities as a teacher but I’m quite glad that Pierrot have chosen to tackle it. I think these kind of flaws give room for potentially interesting character development, especially considering that Shino was probably the member of Konoha 11 who received the least amount of screen time in Naruto and Shippuden. It will be nice to see him being fleshed out, not to mention it gives us an insight to how difficult a teacher’s job can be, which is something we often take for granted.
The Party
Regardless of his personal struggles, Shino truly has the best interests of his students at heart, which we can see when he throws Mitsuki a welcoming party. Following the debacle where Mitsuki utterly defeats Iwabe, and almost strangles him to death, the party was a really good icebreaker helping Mitsuki fit in better after a rough start. Seeing Shino throw in gaudy attire was really weird, and I probably had a similar reaction to Sarada. But this goes back to what I’m saying about Shino going the extra mile but in a possibly misguided manner. You can’t really fault him for trying his best in his own weird way, and I just want to see him succeed!
Unfortunately Sarada jinxes the party, by commenting on how well it’s going! Saying stuff like that is just an invitation to opening a whole new can of worms. His luck and the party trick with the bugs both went horribly wrong and the worst case scenario transpired. Chaos invites more chaos and as some of the construction progress is destroyed by Mitsuki with a blast of wind jutsu. That wasn’t supposed to happen!
Seeing Shino try his damned hardest only for it to turn our really poorly made me feel really sad for him. You could see how much though and effort he puts in, how delighted he is when things seem to finally go well, only for it to be cruelly robbed when things go catastrophically wrong. It was totally crushing to see how badly his failures affected him, especially since we got to see him worry so much about how he could become a better teacher.
The After Party
What hurt even more was how little the children seemed to appreciate his best efforts. Everyone laughing and being harsh towards Shino made me angry, but thankfully Shikadai learned from the mess he caused with Metal, when he scolds everyone and asks them to reflect on their behaviour. Only it came too little too late – the damage was already done.
I was worried that Shino would get horribly chewed up, but fortunately, Iruka sensei is now a principal and offers some really nice emotional support befitting of him. However, it doesn’t seem to be enough as Shino gets possessed by the dark chakra shroud, and invites Boruto, Mitsuki and Shikadai out for a private lesson…
Concluding Thoughts
The fight sequence choreography was as good as always. On top of a spinning kick to apprehend the rabble rouser at the beginning of the episode, we were treated to a taijutsu exchange between Mitsuki and Iwabe, and a coordinated takedown of a builder corrupted by the dark chakra shroud. COMPLETE WITH THE BORUTO RENDAN. Seriously, even if it was accidental, it was such a nostalgic throwback to the original series.
Anyway with Shino’s Terminator Mode activated, alongside the recent slew of impressive action animations, I look forwards to seeing how kids who aren’t even Genin can weigh up against him. Speaking of which, I’m surprised Boruto hasn’t tried to tell anyone about what he could see with his special eye. If you think about it, maybe this situation would not have escalated so far if he had informed an adult about these shifty ongoings, which would have alerted them to be cautious against any potential threat.
My observations indicate a pattern across the individuals affected by the malevolent dark chakra shroud – they all exhibited signs of emotional stress. This makes me wonder about the potential for the dark chakra shroud to possess Naruto, in the event Boruto says something incredibly hurtful to him. Before speculating too far, I will bring this episode’s post to a close.
Preview
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At least Shino is still a better teacher than Kakashi….
Different times call for different needs. Winston Churchill was not exactly a brilliant peacetime prime minister, contrary to what he was capable of during World War 2. I will try to evaluate both ninja in an attempt to assess how we can even compare the ways in which they taught, and possibly conclude who was the better teacher.
Shino
Shino’s not even a good peacetime teacher (yet) but he’s probably more suited than Kakashi for teaching in Konoha’s current political climate. In fact, Shino has incorporated unorthodox styles of teaching successfully guiding his students towards a desired outcome, though often at the expense of some collateral damage. And by that, I refer to how the Ninja Academy was destroyed twice as a result of his ‘lessons’. Nonetheless, he is able to get the boys and girls to resolve their differences and improve their ninja skills with the flag hunt, and ease Mitsuki into the class despite the ensuing chaos caused by his welcoming party.
Kakashi
In an age of rampant war and destruction, Kakashi’s spartan way of teaching helped bring out Naruto and Sasuke’s abilities. It should be noted that Kakashi has the easier task, because he only has to teach 2 students, whereas Shino struggles with an entire class. Kakashi gets both Naruto and Sasuke to push each other to become better, although his huge failure as a teacher was losing control of this productive educational environment (allowing Naruto and Sasuke to clash on the roof of the hospital after Sunagakure’s invasion) or doing enough to prevent Sasuke’s subsequent defection. Kakashi’s goals as a teacher did not produced his desired outcomes and the collateral damage is arguably far greater compared to Shino.
Conclusion
However, I still think Kakashi is the better teacher overall simply because he is shown to have tried an unorthodox style of teaching, by attempting to impart moral lessons based off his own life experiences (not abandoning a friend, not to crave for power) as opposed to being strictly limited to the shinobi curriculum.
Not to mention, Naruto and Sasuke were probably some of the most difficult students you could ask for. One being the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki always causing trouble while the other is the final revenger of the Uchiha clan. I suspect that Shino would crumple absolutely if he had to teach troublesome students like them.
Agreed, although, as you said, the class system can’t be compared. We know that sooner or later the Academy students will be organized in gorups of three, but first they share the same class. Shino’s equivalent is Iruka, not Kakashi. We would need to put Kakashi in charge of a whole classroom of children and Shino in charge of a ninja team to know for sure who would be better.
That’s debatable… different teachers, different styles, different students… can’t make everyone happy.
Again, this series surprises me by doing the basics right. From day one, I thought that Shino having a hard time as a teacher would be a minor running joke in the story. But now the plot is playing it for drama.
In Naruto, the focus is on how hard it can be for a student to be at school. Boruto, however, tackles how hard it can be the same for a teacher. Poor Shino. Perhaps after he scares the shit out of those three once possessed, he will get more respect from his students (so far, only the class rep offers some support).
Now I’m wondering: after seeing how they take the construction worker after the kids stop his rampage, what will happen to the possessed victims? Without evidence they were acting under possession, in the eyes of everyone they are criminals, not victims. For their own good, I hope Boruto and company uncover the truth for everyone to know.
Uncovering the truth – we’ve turned from shounen battle anime to elementary school detective mystery.
Speaking of which, I think that Boruto playing Shino’s struggles as drama is proving a good decision. Having something pivot from comedic relief, into a serious plotline presents multiple dynamics colouring the context of the situation in. Perhaps he will get more respect, but I think he’s currently satisfied with what he has for the level present in Ninja Academy after what he gained from his first fight with Iwabe.
Should be noted that among the Ninja cards, Shino was listed as “common”, meaning the card makers don’t think his ability is that great.
lol the manga reference
The humiliation is real, damn1! it seem anime staff and Kishi are gangbanging to bully Shino >___>
This show seems more and more like a decent OVA: Entertaining and well done, but it lacks something. Maybe it’s the memories from both Naruto and Shippuden that lead me to wait for something more, but nevertheless I can’t shake this feeling.
Still, I’m moderately curious about the chakra that seems to prey on negative emotions/depression. It’s obvious that the new transfer student has come to Konoha pursuing the same line of investigation, so let’s see what does this show have in store.
Hey Kiritsugu. I agree that Boruto is currently lacking an edge. However, if you consider the first few moments of episode 1, I’m more than certain that we’ll eventually reach an interesting twist – the destruction of Konoha and how the peacetime comes to an end.
Show Spoiler ▼
We shall wait and see 🙂
My guess is that next week we will get a wake up call for Mitsuki. His statements thus far seem to suggest that to him going to school has little to do with learning and more to do with meeting the other students. He believes that he already knows it all. I think it is likely he will try to take Shino down by himself next week and will not get anywhere. Shino may not have been one of the most powerful characters but he was one of the smarter ones. That plus all these years of experience suggests to me he is more than a match for a bunch of kids.
You could say that meeting other students in order to further develop your social bearings is a part of the educational process. Otherwise a strict regiment of home schooling would probably be the preferential modus operandi, if not for the importance of emotional/social education. But I agree that he probably has not come to Ninja Academy to necessarily learn more about the Ninja Arts.
I do think that Mitsuki v Shino will be the highlight of the matchup. Although Shino is smart, you can see that the dark chakra shroud inhibits the capacity for affected individuals to make rational choices, which could take away from his plethora of experience. Perhaps Shikadai can outcoordinate Shino’s strength with a smart strategy, but I would still expect Shino to come out on top bar an unexpected development (which I’m totally expecting to happen, just don’t know what specifically). Hopefully it won’t be an asspull.
https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
Mitsuki doesn’t know the concept of discretion.
https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2023.jpg